But times have changed. Today, the VUB, in cooperation with the French-speaking ULB, teaches history students how food on the table has shaped people’s lives throughout history. They will be able to graduate with a Master’s degree in Food History and Culture.

“It may sound like a cliché,” says Scholliers, “but we are what we eat.” The founder of the new course published the 2008 book “Food Culture in Belgium”. True to his earlier nickname, the historian claims that he would have never been born if it weren’t for the introduction of the potato in Europe. The potato lifted the curse of endemic hunger and allowed the population of the 19th century to grow. “The history of food is the history of the world.”

As an assignment, students in the course had to bring back a food item or a drink they felt epitomises their culture. A Greek girl brought a cup of strong coffee, but was infuriated when a Turkish student claimed that it was typically Turkish. “It shows how much we identify with our food,” says Scholliers. “In the same way, Belgians can be frustrated about the name French fries.”

Food seems to highlight tendencies in global society, such as the recent trend of eating locally as a reaction to a global market. “There are many people in the United States who only eat what has been cultivated within a 50-kilometre perimeter,” says Scholliers. “In Belgium, things are not so extreme, but many of the top restaurants put more and more local dishes on their menus, such as waterzooi [a classic stew traditionally from Ghent]. People look for authenticity in a world that seems to have become much smaller in the last decades.”

The Master’s degree itself is an example of globalisation. Except for those at the ULB, all the courses are in English. “Not just because there are students of many different nationalities,” claims Scholliers. “We even speak English when all the students have Dutch as a mother tongue. That way, we prepare them for the international job market.”

www.vub.ac.be/HIST